megabuck

Andy, Oh, I know that - no harm in trying, though! I just figure that PZero Assimetricos are probably one of the softer tyres; if I could find something with a little less grip, but which lasted to 25K, say, then that would be a reasonable compromise. Unless, of course, they were absolutely crap in the wet. I had some tyres like that on my last car (3-litre Omega) - I finally had to replace them with loads of tread left when I got sick of power-slides in the wet every time I went near the throttle. Regards, Martin

Sandeep, I'm in Tamworth - close enough to make a trip to Small Heath at that price! Regards, Martin

True enough - but at a grand for a full set, that means I'm paying 5p/mile just for tyres. Of course, that's relatively insignificant compared to the 15p/mile that goes on petrol, but if there were an alternative that was £200 cheaper, and which lasted 30K miles, that would almost halve the 'per mile' cost of tyres. Regards, Martin

I've got a Mk.3 LS400, which (as far as I can tell) had the Handling Pack - it's got 245/50/17 tyres on Lexus rims. When I got it, it had a new set of Pirelli PZero Assimetrico tyres fitted, which gave great grip; however, they didn't last long, needing replacing after 20K miles. When I came to replace them, it seems about the only tyre available in 245/50/17 is... PZero Assimetrico. So that's what I went for, although they're eye-wateringly expensive. Now, if I went with 245/45/17, there's lots of different tyres I could go for: Toyo, Continental, Dunlop, Michelin, Bridgestone, Yokohama, Goodyear. Obviously going from 50 series to 45 series will make the car sit about 0.5 inch lower; I guess it will also make the speedo read high, as it makes the circumference about 3 inches shorter, so wheels will be turning quicker for the same road speed. What about ride quality? With less sidewall, presumably that means stiffer, less compliant tyres, so harsher ride? Anyone tried it and can advise? It's not an ideal solution, but if it could save me 200 quid on a full set... Regards, Martin

I've had my LS400 Mk.III since April, and I've covered 13,000 happy, trouble-free miles. But this week, it seems to have developed... a FAULT! But - it's a Lexus, they don't do that, do they? It's a relatively trivial, but annoying fault: the radio backlight sometimes doesn't come on. It's obviously still working, as (so far) it's come on a bit later in the journey. I'd hazard a guess at a loose connection, except that it usually fails to work when starting, and starting working doesn't appear related to hitting a bump or anything similar. The fault doesn't affect the A/C controls or display, only the radio; and it's the entire panel, including the backlighting of all the dials. Anybody got any ideas as to what I could try? How easy is it to get the radio out and reseat the connectors? Regards, Martin

So according to the handbook, my Mk.III LS400 has an 85-litre tank. I generally fill up between 30 and 50 miles after the warning light has come on, and it usually takes around 73 litres to top up. Does this mean there's still another 10 litres (50-ish miles) sloshing around in the tank, or is the handbook being optimistic about the capacity? How much does it take to fill your tank? Regards, Martin

Phettu, Can't help on the ball joints, but the garage is clearly taking the p*** on brake bits. I had pads all round and front discs done on my Mk.III LS400 at the last service. List price (at least according to Lexus Birmingham) is only £235.70, inc.VAT; take off my LOC members's discount, and that becomes £212. Even including labour, brake fluid etc etc, Lexus Birmingham did all the work for under £450, so £550 is well out of order. If you want to get the bits yourself, check www.ebcbrakesdirect.com. Front discs and pads for my 400 are around £180 inc.VAT, or an extra thirty quid for upgraded pads. Regards, Martin

I've got a MKIII, and I would like to run my electric coolbox. The only problem I've got is, nowhere to plug it in! So far as I can see, there's no obvious opening 'twixt' boot and cabin where I can run my cigarette lighter extension lead. I guess it would be possible to make some sort of opening around the speaker in the centre of the rear shelf, but is there a better/easier option? Failing that, is there somewhere in the wiring in the boot I can tap into, to give me a 12v supply? Switched would be best, but I could live with unswitched. Regards, Martin

Time to add my two penn'orth, having done more or less what is looking to do. A couple of months back, I bought a '97 MkIII - yes, I wanted a MKIV too, but didn't find a decent one under 12K. What I did find was my MKIII, with just under 70K miles and FLSH, for 8.7K. Except that FLSH can be a bit misleading. The services had drifted, and the 54K service had been done at 58K; the 63K, due at 67K, hadn't been done. The car looked in excellent condition, drove well, four new tyres - so the deal was done. That's when I got a nasty surprise - 63K service includes cam belts and spark plugs, and was going to be the wrong side of £600. Fortunately I hadn't picked the car up, so a bit of haggling got another couple of hundred knocked off the price. By the time I got it serviced, it was up over 70K, so I asked the dealer (Lexus Birmingham) to do a combined 63K and 72K, which added a coolant change. Then I get the call: brake pads 85% worn, front discs below service limit. Okay, okay. But even with my Lexus Owners Club discount, the total was still over £1200. Still, I've paid out less than 10K for a clean, low-mileage MKIII which should now be fully sorted. Of course, they also identified some play in one of the front suspension arms, which will need sorting out at some point - but I've got no complaints. An LS400, for the same as a nearly-new Mondeo? Bargain! But the moral is, no matter what you buy, check the service schedule - to the extent of calling the dealer who did the last service, and check what they did - and even then, budget a few hundred for unexpected stuff. Regards, Martin

I've recently bought a '97 LS400, which I guess started life as a demonstrator, since it was owned by a Lexus dealer for the first ten months. Whilst the handbook only mentions 225/60-16, mine has 245/50-17, fitted to what are presumably optional Lexus rims, since they've got the Lexus 'L' badge in the centre. Full set, including spare. Fortunately the car had four new Pirelli PZero fitted before I bought it - a set of those is over 700 quid! I don't know what you'd need to do to recalibrate the speedo, if anything; I recently clocked mine over a measured mile at an indicated 60mph, and it was about 2s slow, making the speedo fractionally fast. The important question is whether the circumference changes - i.e. is 225mm x 60% + 16" more or less than 245mm x 50% + 17"? Doncha just love mixing metric and imperial? So it may well depend on what rubber you intend to fit. Since Lexus obviously do an optional 17" rim, there should be no problem with rubbing - PROVIDED the offset is right. For non-Lexus rims, you might need to use spacers between the hub and wheel to get this right, and the thickness of the spacer will vary from rim to rim. Regards, Martin